Third quarter exports of DCCI members posts a year-on-year growth of 45%

<?xml:namespace prefix = w ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" />Exports of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) members accelerated further as exports of 6,559 members to 187 destinations reached total value of AED 45.3 billion, exceeding by more than 45% the AED 31.2 billion registered for the same quarter in 2006. The third quarter value represented a quarter-on-quarter growth of 14%, topping the second quarter’s quarter-on-quarter growth of 10%.

GCC and Iran are the major export destinations

The GCC remained to be the largest market of DCCI members, with 45.3% of total exports valued at AED 20.5 bn destined to the region, and an additional AED 2.7 bn or 6%, within the UAE. However, Iran was still the largest single market, being the destination of exports valued at AED 9.5 bn or 21% of the total exports during the quarter.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar were the largest markets in the GCC, with total exports to these two countries reaching AED 8.3 bn and AED 7.7 bn, respectively, representing respective quarter growths of 10.5% and 13.3%. Export to Kuwait reached AED 2.3 bn, for a growth of 9.9%. Exports to Oman rebounded from a decline in the second quarter to post a quarter growth of 14.4%, reaching a value of AED 1.6 bn. Bahrain remained to be the smallest GCC market, with exports at about AED 0.6 bn. Exports to UAE also remained at about AED 2.7 bn, posting a quarter growth of 1%. However, except for Oman, quarter growth of exports to GCC countries and Iran were all below the overall growth.

On the other hand, exports to the other major markets all posted growths well above the overall rate, signifying significant gains towards expansion of Dubai’s exports to other markets. Exports to Yemen increased from AED 1 bn to AED 1.6 bn, for a quarter growth of 58%; overtaking exports to India valued at AED 1.4 bn. Other countries where exports exceeded AED 1 bn included Libya (AED 1.2 bn) and Egypt (AED 1 bn). Exports to Lebanon almost tripled, reaching AED 0.8 bn, while exports to Algeria grew by 74% to a value of AED 0.7 bn.

Total exports to all the major destinations represented 80.9% of total exports during the quarter, for a quarter growth of 16.4%

Top 110 exporters dominated exporting activities

By number of export shipments made during the quarter, 110 exporters dominated exporting activities of DCCI members, making 200 or more export shipments each, with accumulated value of AED 18.4 bn, or 41% of the total export value for the quarter. On the average, these exporters had an average of about 12 export markets each. In comparison, exporters who shipped out goods 100 to 199 times numbered 147, but their combined export value reached only AED 5.7 bn, or a little less than 13% of the quarter’s total. On the average, a member of the group exported to about 9 export markets.

On the other hand, 4,574 exporters exported less than 10 times during the quarter, with combined value of AED 5.3 bn, representing only about 12% of the total. On the average, an exporter in the group had less than 2 export markets. About 12% of exporters shipped goods only 10 to 19 times, with total value of AED 4 bn, contributing only about 9% to total, while the next group numbered 663 and had export value of AED 7.1 bn. Average markets for the two groups were 3.3 and 4.9, respectively. Exporters who shipped out goods 50 to 99 times recorded a total export value of AED 4.6 bn. Each exporter in the group had an average markets of about 8.

The export performance monitoring system of the DCCI captured the extraordinary performance of members during the third quarter, continuing the stellar performance during the first two quarters of the year. Although large contributions to the success came from the heightened level of response of leading exporters to the enhancement of export facilities and services, smaller exporters also showed significant contributions to the total, strengthening the expectations for 2007 as a banner year for Dubai as a commercial hub.